September 2006

Dear Friends,

John and Anne Wheeler-Waddell enjoyed time with this clergy couple and their family, good friends and colleagues in ministry in Kenya.

The last four months of the Ethiopian year are the rainy season here in Addis Ababa. This roughly coincides with summer for those of you in North America. So, while many of you were experiencing record hot weather, we were seeing cool, wet, dreary days. Needing a break, we took a two-week vacation in Kenya. We went on vacation, but clearly God did not. In Kenya, we saw God at work through people who were new to us and through old friends and former students.

Among those new people was a British couple whom we met at the guest house where we were staying. They were starting a long-term volunteer role with the Viva Network. That is a ministry, which comes alongside Christians who have been called to minister in the slums — a call, which means moving into the slums and becoming love incarnate among the people there. They witness to the gospel with their compassion, deeds, words, and daily presence among the people.

Among the old friends are a couple of retired Presbyterian missionaries who have stayed in Kenya. Though their official missionary days are over, they continue to witness to the love of God in a variety of creative ways. They are always involved with one or more ministries, offering insights from their many years of experience. They love and care for their neighbors in the complex of flats where they live. Their home has become known as a place for a warm welcome among a wide network of young volunteers who come to Kenya. What they have, they share, and they can always find another place at the table. The accommodations aren’t fancy, but they have hosted more than a few cash-strapped young volunteers on their couch and their floor. They are involved in the lives of many people, sharing the love that God has given them, being open to whomever God brings to the door, and giving God the glory for all the goodness they enjoy.

Among the former students are a couple, who are pastors in neighboring presbyteries in the area of Kenya where Anne first worked up on the east side of Mt. Kenya. Both were Anne’s students at the Pastoral Training Institute back in the 1990s. They have had many struggles in the years we have known them, dealing with health problems and difficulties with the church. In particular, Rev. Susan has endured over a decade of delay in being able to answer her call to be a pastor. Anne has known her since high school, and Susan has known a call to pastoral ministry since that time, or even before. The road was long with many detours and delays. Finally, last year she was ordained. Praise God! Susan now serves her parish and several boarding schools located nearby. During those years of waiting, she has become an able pastoral counselor and helps people deal with the difficulties of life that traditional society just doesn’t talk about. Her husband, Rev. Nina, was nearly killed in a vehicle crash a decade ago. God spared his life and has given him the ability to humbly serve in several different parish settings. His current parish is in a rural area on the edge of a small town where he cares for three congregations and several schools.

Another former student is Onesimus whom we got to know when he was a high school student in Chogoria and on the verge of being sent away for lack of school fees. Onesimus came from “down” in Tharaka, a semi arid undeveloped area below Chogoria. With gifts we received we helped him finish high school and go through university. It had been many years since we had been in touch with him. How much has changed in those years! We spoke with him by cell phone while he was at home in Tharaka. Surely it would have been worthy of a TV ad showing the far reaches of mobile technology! Onesimus is teaching high school, is chairman of his congregation in Tharaka, married with two children, and is being considered as one of three finalists who have applied to translate the Bible into Kitharaka. How exciting!

The fruits of all these friends’ ministries are the result of long years of walking with God. Many things have happened that we could not have anticipated. We are just very aware of what a blessing it is to be a part of their lives along the way and together to rejoice in what God is doing.

As we have returned and are beginning a new academic year at the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology, we trust that God is as well at work here for the long haul. We have a small part to play as we continue to introduce new courses in mission studies for the church here. We wonder at the surprises God has in store for our current students over the next decade and more.

Praises and prayers:

We are grateful that PC(USA) granted our request for extending our term through the spring semester 2007. We will see through the first of EGST’s Missiology graduates.

Both praise and prayer for the large number of students taking missions courses. We are excited by the interest and humbled in awareness of the need to work at contextualizing teaching for churches with which we have limited history.

Pray for EGST in the continuing accreditation process, their search for a new director in the next year and the need for an Ethiopian missiologist to carry this new program forward.

Praise for Anne’s completion of the Doctor of Ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary. Pray for John as he tries to find the time amidst teaching to continue to work on his final project.

Thank you for your prayers, letters, and support.

John & Anne Wheeler-Waddell

The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 330